VT launches “full-scale” trial autoclave facility

And, the company, which was named as preferred bidder for the 25-year deal over two and a half years ago (see letsrecycle.com story), said it now hoped to achieve financial close on the contract this autumn – with September understood to be a potential target date for signing the deal.

The trial facility – on Calder Vale Road near the centre of Wakefield – was built over a period of around six months and has a capacity of around 60,000 tonnes a year, which is a similar size to one of three of the autoclave units that VT Group eventually plans to build to deal with the council's waste at a site in South Kirkby, to the South East of Wakefield.

VT Group explained that the trial, or 'First of Class', facility would allow it to run a series of test and trials on the process it aims to use to deal with up to 180,000 tonnes-a-year of Wakefield metropolitan borough council's residual household waste once the contract is signed.

This includes examining the outputs from the autoclave process, which uses large vessels to rotate and inject steam at 160 degrees Celsius, transforming the waste into a sterile organic fibre before recyclate such as metals, plastics and glass is sorted.

Commenting on the role of the test facility – which will also use residual waste from the council – Tim Hoare, VT Group's environmental head of waste projects, said: “We will use the 'First of Class' facility for a series of tests and trials throughout 2010. This will enable us to fine tune the equipment and interfaces before the system enters full service.

“We will be particularly looking at aspects relating to safety, equipment control philosophy, waste composition loads, cycle times, environmental impacts and operational efficiency,” he added.

The facility was praised by councillor Clive Hudson, Wakefield council's cabinet assistant for waste PFI, who said: “This First of Class facility is an exciting step forward and will help ensure the final facility at South Kirkby is fine tuned. Together we are leading the way in waste recycling.”

Contract

Alongside the unveiling of the test facility, VT Group and Wakefield council revealed that they expected to complete contractual negotiations on the PFI deal involving the development of the South Kirkby autoclave units by the end of 2010.

The council had said in October 2009 that it hoped the deal would be finalised in early 2010, citing the economic downturn as the reason for the delay in signing the contract (see letsrecycle.com story).

However, speaking to letsrecycle.com today (June 8), a spokesman for VT Group said “the economic climate has involved”, and as a result financial close was expected in the second half of 2010.

It is understood that the contract could be signed in September.